Equeesik knew by these signs that we were in
the Ooqueesik-Sillik country, and as the natives never go far from
Back's River, or the Ooqueesik-Sillik, as is the Esquimau name, this
was joyful news and we were all excitement at the prospect of speedily
meeting the natives. We followed the tracks upon the ice, and could see
that they had used dogs to drag a musk-ox skin for a sled. This is a
usual mode of travel with these people, who have very little wood with
which to make sledges. Their supply consists entirely of drift-wood,
with the exception of the material they obtained from the small boats
of the 'Erebus' and 'Terror', two of which were found on
Adelaide Peninsula and two on King William Land.
[Map: THE LOWER PORTION OF BACK'S OR GREAT FISH RIVER.]
CHAPTER V.
NATIVE WITNESSES.
We left camp at half-past seven in the morning of the 15th, a sharp
wind blowing in our faces. We had not gone far when the dogs began to
prick up their ears, and finally started off on a brisk run, barking
and manifesting great excitement. The Inuits at once attributed this
unwonted energy on the part of the dogs to the fact that there were
people not far distant, and, sure enough, we soon saw several igloos
about three-quarters of a mile ahead, with poles sticking in the snow
around them--an evidence that they were inhabited.
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